Xcel says power will return to eastern Montevideo at around 6 p.m.

There is a power outage in Montevideo today, covering much of the eastern, and norther portions of the city.

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Montevideo American-News

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Posted Aug. 29, 2013 at 11:14 AM

Posted Aug. 29, 2013 at 11:14 AM

There is a power outage in Montevideo today, covering much of the eastern, and norther portions of the city.

According to a statement from Xcel Energy, a transformer failed in a substation providing power to Montevideo at around 3:15 a.m.

Some residences and businesses in the effected area have managed to maintain partial power, while others lost it at approximately 9:30 a.m.

“A mobile substation is currently en route to the location and we are continuing to do testing on the equipment and are in the process of installing replacement equipment, but it will take some time to complete the complicated procedures that are required in this situation,” reads a statement from Xcel Energy. “We expect to restore your service at about 6 p.m. today.”

Crews can be seen at work at the substation north of Highway 7.

The loss of power has effected various business and services in the city.

No Prairie 5 meals and no home delivery in Montevideo.

Cross Country Meet at Lac Qui Parle today has been cancelled. Practice is still on at 4 p.m.

Montevideo Family Dentistry is closed today.

Montevideo Middle School and Ramsey Elementary orientation and open house are postponed to next week.

Montevideo High school and Sanford are on for today as scheduled.

Minnwest Bank on Hwy. 7 is closed use the downtown location for banking today.

Cenex C-store is open and can pump gas, has partial power.

Walmart is closed.

The city of Montevideo and Chippewa County have setup locations that will be open to the public to get inside and cool off if needed. Those locations are:

Montevideo Community Center

Montevideo City Hall

Montevideo Public Library

Montevideo Guard Armory and Training Center

The city of Montevideo is asking residents to conserve water today due to the outage.

“Even though we don’t have power to our well sites, we (previously) setup one of our sites to allow a generator, and we have that hooked up,” said Montevideo City Manager Steve Jones.

Jones also mentioned that there are standby generators at the water plants, but even so, they’re currently operating as normal.

“Even though we’re asking people to conserve water, we’re in good shape,” Jones said.